Awards Focus Editor Byron Burton and Deputy Awards Editor Matthew Koss offer their predictions as Oscar voting commences.
When the awards team put their heads together to highlight the year’s best, who would expect to find an ace fighter pilot bumping elbows with a self-mutilating violin player and a twelve-foot-tall indigenous alien?
Well, that’s exactly what cinema in 2022 has thrown at us, and we’re here to give you the definitive list of who and what should make the final list.
Awards Focus Editor Byron Burton and Deputy Awards Editor Matthew Koss have each individually ranked the nominees according to their merit evaluation and the artists’ craftsmanship. Our editors are not just focused on the likelihood of winning or getting the “pulse of voters” but also on highlighting the variety of eligible films from this past year.
The Academy Awards nominations will be announced on January 24th, 2023.
BEST PICTURE
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
TÁR (Focus Features)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)
Empire of Light (Searchlight)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
She Said (Universal Pictures)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)
Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)
Pinnochio (Netflix)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
Aftersun (A24)
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)
The Woman King (Tristar Pictures)
Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)
Pinnochio (Netflix)
Triangle of Sadness (Neon)
TÁR (Focus Features)
Decision to Leave (Mubi)
Elvis (Warner Bros.)
BEST ACTRESS
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Cate Blanchett (TÁR)
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Danielle Deadwyler (Till)
Margot Robbie (Babylon)
Viola Davis (The Woman King)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Cate Blanchett (TÁR)
Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans)
Viola Davis (The Woman King)
Mia Goth (Pearl)
BEST ACTOR
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Austin Butler (Elvis)
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick)
Bill Nighy (Living)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Paul Mescal (Aftersun)
Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Adam Sandler (Hustle)
Austin Butler (Elvis)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Irisherin)
Jessie Buckley (Women Talking)
Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery)
Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Keke Palmer (Nope)
Thuso Mbedu (The Woman King)
Jennifer Ehle (She Said)
Dolly De Leon (Triangle of Sadness)
Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Brad Pitt (Babylon)
Michael Ward (Empire of Light)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans)
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse)
Mark Rylance (Bones and All)
BEST DIRECTOR
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Todd Field (TÁR)
Baz Luhrmann (Elvis)
Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)
James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water)
S. S. Rajamouli (RRR)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Gina Prince Bythewood (The Woman King)
Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)
James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Sarah Polley (Women Talking)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)
TÁR (Todd Field)
Till (Keith Beauchamp, Chinonye Chukwu & Michael Reilly)
Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
TÁR (Todd Field)
Nope (Jordan Peele)
Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Top Gun: Maverick (Peter Craig, Ehren Kruger, Justin Marks, Christopher McQuarrie & Eric Warren Singer)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson)
Women Talking (Sarah Polley)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell)
Living (Kazuo Ishiguro)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Top Gun: Maverick (Peter Craig, Ehren Kruger, Justin Marks, Christopher McQuarrie & Eric Warren Singer)
Women Talking (Sarah Polley)
She Said (Rebecca Lenkiewicz)
Pinnochio (Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale, Gris Grimly, Matthew Robbins)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
BYRON’S PREDICTIONS
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (A24)
Wendell & Wild (Netflix)
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Universal Pictures)
The Bad Guys (Universal Pictures)
MATT’S PREDICTIONS
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (A24)
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Universal Pictures)
Inu-Oh (Asmik Ace, Aniplex)
Turning Red (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)